


An Exploration of Questions: Gravity Falls

by rubywings91



Series: An Exploration of Questions [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Adventure, Family, Friendship, Gen, Incomplete Stories, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubywings91/pseuds/rubywings91
Summary: A series of partially completed pieces I worked on for Gravity Falls
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Fiddleford H. McGucket & Ford Pines
Series: An Exploration of Questions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703188
Kudos: 9





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Summary:  
> A series of incomplete stories for Gravity Falls.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> I don’t own Gravity Falls or any characters within it. They were made by Alexander Hirsch

**This chapter is just the summary. If you want to get straight to the material without reading it, feel free to head to chapter 2.**

* * *

When I write a story, I usually start with a question or two and develop it from there. Some of the stories that come from these questions take off and become stories that I can post. An example of that for Gravity Falls was Pulling Into the Station, which came from the questions: What happened when Dipper and Mabel arrived at home?

But for each question that I turned into a complete story, many more don’t reach completion to the point I feel comfortable posting them, although I can spend a great deal of time exploring them before moving on. This Series, _An Exploration of Questions_ , is focused on the works I started but was never ready to post based on these questions, What would have happened if Blendin’s Time Machine had busted before Dipper and Mabel made it back to their own time? What happened to the two Dipper copies who weren’t destroyed in Double Dipper? What happened in the Months after Dipper and Mabel made it home? These are just a few questions I started building stories around but left behind. 

I will be posting my work for many questions I explored related to Gravity Falls here. Keep in mind that these are incomplete works, so there will obviously be scenes missing, plot holes abound, possible moments where Characters may be Out of Character, although I will try to remain true to them as best as I can and other issues that come from incomplete work.

I welcome everyone who is interested to my questions and partial answers. I hope you enjoy them.


	2. Time Stranded Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Question 1: What would happen if Blendin Blandin's Time Machine had broken at a different point in Dipper and Mabel's fight? Specifically, when they had landed in front of the Mystery Shack in a long winter past.
> 
> This is the first chapter in which I explore that Question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scenes with Stanford are Alternate versions of his perspective that I wrote. That is why there is a double division between them. often when I am writing stories out, I will get multiple versions of certain scenes. Since these are incomplete, I posted both alternates, rather than just select one.

Dipper and Mabel stood at the edge of a familiar lake where weeks before they had dealt with McGucket's Gobblewonker and had fished with their Grunkle Stan. Moments ago, they had used the time tape to leave a strange future, where a city was being destroyed by a giant baby with an hourglass on its head.

Seeing that her brother was distracted, Mabel snatched the time travel device from him and ran away, knowing that if she got back before him, the worst that would happen is that he would have a couple hours of his life erased. "I'm Coming Waddles!" She screamed as she rushed away with it,

"Hey!" Dipper cried out as he gave chase. He couldn't afford to lose his perfect day with Wendy.

As they ran, they passed through different moments of their summer. The reopening of the Mystery Shack's wax exhibit flashed by and was replaced by the time the Gnomes had cornered him and Mabel .

Then, suddenly, they were running through snow. The air was freezing, stinging her skin and burning her lungs. The time travelling tape, which had already begun to heat up, now began to glow as it actually burned her hands, contrasting even more with the bitter winter temperatures. "The thing is getting hotter!" she screamed moving it from hand to hand to keep from burning herself. "Hot! Hot, hot, hot!"

At that moment, Dipper caught up with her, only to trip, accidentally knocking her down and causing her to drop the device. It was thrown from her hands to land in the snow. As it landed, a burst of tiny sparks shot out as a loud _pop_ filled the air, before a plume of smoke rose from the device. 

"Uh oh." The twins went in unison, staring at the still smoking device in the snow before turning to each other. "Maybe it'll still work." Mabel commented.

Then the door to the shack opened and a familiar looking if not, too young face was standing in the doorway.

* * *

Bill was reclining in his private corner of the nightmare realm, looking through one of his little peepholes through the interdimensional barrier to see what was happening when he sensed something off, a temporal disturbance that awfully close to Ford.

He narrowed his eye in annoyance. Stupid time travelers, they could ruin everything! The last thing he needed was for Time Baby or a group of his obnoxious time cops to drop in just as Six Fingers opened the portal. He wasn't going to have a billion years of work blown in seconds, especially when he was so close to his goal.

Bill immediately pulled up an image of the new arrivals. His eye widened before the lower lid rose up in a grin, despite the possible seriousness of the situation, he chuckled. He’d seen these two on occasion, popping in and out of the time stream around Gravity Falls. He watched as the two children fought over a time machine and could tell from the glow that they would soon be gone. Even with just this few seconds glimpse, Bill could tell he was going to enjoy playing with them whenever he finally found them in the future.

Then something unexpected happened; they dropped it.

He watched as it fried in the snow just before Stanford opened the door, making the situation go from fun to watch to extremely complicated in a split second. Okay, this could make things a little messy. He'd better keep watch and make sure he wouldn't have to step in.

* * *

Stanford had missed this, he realized as he looked across at Fiddleford, who was watching him intently. The friendly atmosphere that had existed between them throughout their College years and when he had first showed up in Gravity Falls had been temporarily rekindled when the other man had found his untouched Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons game.

It was a nice change, after everything they'd been through leading to all the tension between them. He knew that all their troubles were not really gone, just buried under the nostalgia of the moment. Come tomorrow, they'd be right back where they were, with his friend getting increasingly apprehensive as they approached the completion of the portal, just as his muse had warned would happen. But not now.

Currently, Ford was rolling the die back and forth between his six fingers as he decided what he wanted to do next. His friend watched the object move back and forth in an almost trancelike state.

"Alright," Stanford began, finally taking the object in his palm, "I…"

Suddenly, a loud crackling noise and a thud filled the, followed by what sounded like the voices of a children yelling outside. Both men glanced at the window. They couldn't see much while seated on the floor aside from the snow that had been falling for the last several hours.

Seeing Fiddleford's apprehensive look, Stanford said. "Don't worry, it's probably just some confused gnomes or something. I'll go check and then we can get back to our game."

"Sound good," Fiddleford replied, but the worry was still there. After all, his interactions with the weirdness of Gravity Falls were not as pleasant as Stanford's and it had really messed him up in many ways.

Stanford then got up and walked to the door, feeling his friend's eyes on his back the whole way.

As he opened the door to the cold air of the snowy winter evening, he instinctively positioned his hands so they could not be seen from the other side of the doorway. He was greeted by the sight of two kids lying in a heap, staring at what looked for all the world like a smoking tape measure lying the half-melted pile of snow in front of them. They immediately turned their heads and look up at him and for an awkward moment, they just stared at each other, no one sure how to react.

* * *

- **Alt Stanford Scene**

Stanford Pines was excited. The portal was finally nearing completion. He and Fiddleford planned to run a few all-nighters in the hopes of getting it done.

Poor Fiddleford. The other man was currently taking a nap in the room down the hall from Stanford's own bookcase concealed one, wanting to be well rested for the long night ahead. The sooner they could get this done, the better, for his sake. In his time here, he had drank the questionable milk from supernatural cows, stared into the eyes of a Gremloblin, was seriously injured in the following rescue attempt and had been bound, gagged and impersonated by Shifty. Even Stanford could see that his friend was starting to come apart at the seams.

When Stanford published his book on the Unified Theory of Weirdness, he would make sure that his Fiddleford was properly recognized for his efforts and receive a solid share of the profits from it as well. It was the least he could do, his friend had been so loyal to their work despite everything he'd been through, even if he wasn't handling it as well as Ford, himself.

Stanford knew that it would probably be a good idea for him to sleep too but was just too wound up to even think of doing it. He took a seat on the couch and sighed before picking up his second journal and flipping through it with a smile on his face. He decided to work add a couple minor details to some of his sketches, adding a few lines here, a little more detail on an eye there. It helped calm his nerves when he drew and might be enough to help him settle down.

Ford smiled as he turned to a page describing Bill and he smiled and said. "Soon, my friend."

 _Boom!_ He was pulled from his thoughts he heard an electrical crackling and a thump outside followed high-pitched voices and a loud popping noise. Hmmm, what could that be?

Curious at what he might find, he placed his second journal on top of the other two before he got up and opened the door, instinctively positioning his hands so that anyone who might be there wouldn't see them.

As he opened the door to the cold air of the snowy winter evening, instinctively positioned his hands so they could not be seen from the other side of the doorway, he was greeted by the sight of two kids lying in a heap, staring at what looked for all the world like a smoking tape measure lying the half-melted pile of snow in front of them. They immediately turned their heads and look up at him and for an awkward moment, they just stared at each other, with none of them sure how to react.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if I had posted this as a proper chapter, I probably would have tried to combine elements from both versions of the Stanford scene, maybe having the game occur earlier and Stanford reflecting on it. I probably would have tried to expand on the different perspectives a little as well, adding details relevant to the scenes.


	3. Time Stranded Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford lets Dipper and Mabel into the House so they don't freeze in the snow

Stanford looked at the two children awkwardly.

The only part of his brain that seemed to be working was the same corner that kept making scientific observations even as he fled giant monsters. It took him a moment to realize that the childrens’ foot prints seemed to have only begun from a short distance behind where they’d fallen and that there was a device poking out of the snow, with a plume of smoke rising from it.

Much as he might when running for his life, he found himself trying to shut up said corner of his mind. After all, when running for his life, it typically was not the best time to be a scientist and neither was this. He felt the same rule applied for finding kids lying in the snow in front of him. What in the world was he going to do? "Um, hello?"

The two kids lying in the snow looked up at him and said, "Hi," At the same time with a level of awkwardness comparable to his own greeting. Then the boy got off of the girl before they both pushed themselves up. The shivering boy was clad in his shorts and short-sleeved shirt, and a sleeveless vest, the only protection against the bitter weather. The girl was only slightly better off, in her thin sweater thin sweater. She was trying to knock off clumps of snow that were sticking to the damp material. The skirt she wore beneath was disturbingly short in comparison to what most girls her age were wearing these days.

Clearly, neither child was dressed for the weather and Ford was getting cold just from standing in the doorway as the snow fell. If they stayed out any longer and they could get in some real trouble.

Stanford looked around in the futile hope that he'd see a car or something. Obviously, there wasn't. He had no doubt that something weird had dropped them on his porch. He just hoped whatever it was, there was an easy fix. After all, he didn't know how to deal with kids…or people in general, for that matter.

Bracing himself for the odd evening that was undoubtedly ahead, he said, "You two really shouldn't be out in weather like this, especially in clothes like those. How about you come inside before you freeze?"

The two children looked at their surroundings before glancing back at each other in a way that reminded Ford of those times when he and Stan would come to some sort of decision. He quickly buried the painful memory as the boy asked, "Are you sure? We don't want to be intruding or anything."

Ford sighed and said, "I'd much rather that than have you two kids freeze to death out here."

"Thanks," the girl said, taking one of the boy's hands as he picked up the item they had dropped in the snow before they walked in.

Ford took in the scene one more time before he closed the door behind him, well aware that it would be completely buried in an hour. It was the middle of a snowstorm and two kids show up at his front door in summer clothes as if out of thin air. Something was definitely up. And now, they were going to be completely cut off from everything else for who knows how long. It's a good thing that he'd gotten supplies in case of extended periods of time in isolation, forced or not.

He tucked his hands behind his back as the two kids looked around the room. He noted that the two hadn't let go of each other since they came in. Looking at them, he noted how the boy looked like a younger version of his brother Shermie.

He felt a twinge of pain at that thought, too. His parents hadn't let him come home in the last few years because they thought he was losing his mind when he told them about the things he'd seen in Gravity Falls, but his disconnect from twin brother was self-induced. The man had even tried to call him in the beginning. He never called back.

The girl looked very similar, too. He could tell they were related to each other and if he were to guess… no, surely not, the odds were just too small. But the way they looked the same age and how they seemed to act around each other, it was just too reminiscent of him and his twin when they were kids.

He looked at their damp clothes and said, "let's get you two into something dry. Give me a moment and I'll get you a couple shirts at least," They followed him as he walked over to his book case, pulled the lever disguised as a book and said, "wait here," as it swung aside to reveal the doorway to his bed room, pretending to ignored their looks of awe as he opened the door and went in.

* * *

As Dipper and Mabel watched the young man that looked like Grunkle Stan disappear into the room, Mabel turned to Dipper, who pulled out the tape measure and pulled, only to sigh when nothing happened. "It was worth a shot."

"What are we going to do, Dipper?" Mabel asked quietly. "We're stranded somewhere way in the past with a younger version of our Grunkle! Although, he's really acting kind of different and his voice sounds funny."

Dipper nodded and then shook his head. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?! You always have some sort of plan in these situations, even if it's not always a good one!"

He reached into his sweater vest and wrapped his hands around a familiar book as he said, "maybe there's something in the journal that could help…"

Dipper pulled it out just as their host stepped back in and frowned. Then, faster than he could react, the man snatched the book with a six-fingered hand, causing the boy to freeze in place, his mind trying to process what his eyes had just taken place.

The six-fingered man walked past the kids, his voice filling with annoyance. "I would prefer it if you didn't mess with my things. This book is…" He trailed off and Mabel saw that he was looking at a table next to a familiar, if much newer chair: one of the few pieces of familiar furniture in the room.

There were three books sitting on that table, all of very familiar make. Each was maroon with golden six fingered hand on their covers, and each labeled with a 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

* * *

Ford looked between the books on the table and the one in his hand. Then he repeated the motion again, his mind trying to process what he was seeing. All three journals sat on the table untouched, but he was clearly holding his third journal in his hand, confiscated from the children standing in the middle of the living room.

Ford took a closer look at the one in his hand and saw it anew. This book was old, maybe older than he was. He opened it to see "ad Astra per aspera" in his writing on an old, moth-eaten, yellowing page with several unfamiliar stains and smudges. his signature as the author on the page before was completely gone, lost to what he suspected was insect damage.

Ford turned around to look at the two children standing behind him. The girl looking nervous while the boy stared on in awe. His mind was trying to make the proper connections to come up with the explanation, but the answer seemed to dance just out of his reach. He suddenly felt scared and excited all at once. This was clearly another Gravity Falls odd happening, unfolding before him.

"What's going on? Who are you?" He started moving toward one of the hiding places where he kept a pistol, in case a monster attacked the lab, keeping the duo in his line of sight as he did so. "Why are you here? Are you even human because if not…?"

"We're human," the girl said, taking a step forward but stopping when Ford tensed. "We're time travelers." She lifted the tape measure and said, "We borrowed this from a time enforcement guy who was looking for anomalies when he wasn't looking, and things got out of hand." Then she said, "I'm Mabel. Mabel Pines and this," she gestured to her dumbstruck boy next to her, "is my twin brother, Dipper." Then she asked, "who are you? You look a lot like someone we know but he only has five fingers."

Instead of saying anything useful, the boy just stated in a tone of amazement, "You're the author."

Not that Ford was much better at the moment. stared, barely comprehending what he had just heard. After a moment, he slid the drawer closed, weapon within untouched.

Stanford recalled the letter addressed Pines he'd found in the town history and the words 'this fits' popped up in his head. If these two really have been messing with time, that would explain a lot, although not what the coded writing on it translates out to. And the Journal he held was clearly his, but also far too old to belong to him now.

Stanford sat down heavily in the chair next to his journals, careful to keep the one in his hands away from its younger self on the table. Who knew what the consequences of putting them together would be? He continued to study the two children. "You really don't know who I am?" Of course, he and Stanley hadn't talked to each other in almost a decade and that was clearly who she was talking about.

"No." Mabel said. "If it makes you feel any better, we only met Grunkle Stan a few weeks ago," Then she looked around, "well a few weeks ago for me and Dipper."

"Dipper and I," Stanford said habitually, falling back onto a childhood habit that had infuriated his twin.

"Huh?" The girl asked in confused.

"Proper grammar," He and Dipper said in unison before glancing at the each other.

Mabel groaned in exasperation, "Really? We're stranded in the wrong time, meeting family for the first time. How can you two even think about the way I say stuff at a moment like this?" As the other two shrugged, she looked at Stanford and asked, "you are a relative, right?"

He crossed his arms, tucking his hands out of sight and said, "of course I am. I'm Stanford, Stanley's twin brother, although I haven't had anything to do with him in years."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other in confusion. "Stanley?"

"Okay, obviously we're missing something here."

He looked back at the kids and asked. "And where is this time machine?"

Suddenly, the doorway down the hall swung open and Fiddleford's poked his head out, his hair sticking up every which way like he'd just rolled out of bed. "Did you say something about a time machine?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get the feeling that if Stan and Ford's father got angry and told Stan to get out after his mess up, he would have a similar outburst with Ford for his activity in Gravity Falls, seemingly wasting his intelligence (although, in reality he was going a step further and putting the world in jeopardy but Ford didn't know that). I don't think he expected Stan to actually leave for good nor Ford to stay away either but I could see him having another burst of anger where he tells the other twin to stay away and then is too stubborn to pick up the phone and apologize.
> 
> I think that if I had worked to make this a complete piece, there are a few things I would have built on more. I probably would have worked more on the contrast between Stanford and Stanley, with Dipper and Mabel noticing and reacting to the differences, even if just by exchanging confused glances or something similar. I might have also had a scene somewhere with Dipper and Stanford geeking out over the two Journal 3 copies, discussing whether or not it is a good idea to see what the older one has which the 'younger/newer' one lacks. I would probably have the twins have a bigger reaction to Stanley having a twin brother as well.
> 
> I would also be more careful about repeating things, like how I keep brining attention to the fact that Dipper and Mabel's appearance from seemingly nowhere is probably a Gravity Falls oddity.


	4. Time Stranded Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stanford and Fiddleford Take examine the time machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where a lot of parts started becoming descriptions of scenes rather than the actual completely written material.

"Ford, why are there kids here?"

"Apparently they got stranded when the time machine they stole broke."

**After getting over the fact that the man before them is Fiddleford McGucket, Dipper and Mabel present the time tape to the men who tell the kids to occupy themselves while they go to another room to discuss what they're going to do next.**

"You know, we could try to fix it ourselves and get these kids home," Fiddleford said as he stared down at the tape-measure like device, his knee starting to bounce as he stared down at it. No doubt he was just itching to see how it worked.

"Who knows how long that would take," Ford went.

"It's not like our other work is going to undo itself while we take a look at this, and who knows, maybe there's some safety mechanisms in this that we might be able to incorporate into the portal.”

Stanford knew that Fiddleford was probably just looking for an excuse not to work on the portal, as it had become increasingly clear that he no longer wanted anything to do with it. Plus, his Muse would probably be annoyed that he'd let himself become distracted. Still, how often would an opportunity like this come along? "I don't know…"

"Besides, you don't want to get your family members in there stranded thirty years out of their proper time, do you? And you certainly don't want them so close to the portal when it goes off."

And that truth was what sealed the deal. He was perfectly willing to take the risks to himself and Fiddleford understood the risks as well as he did, maybe even better, but he wasn't about to put the children in the other room in possible danger or trap them here. Who knows what effect messing with the universe would have on time? If his work trapped those kids out of their time forever, he'd never forgive himself. "Alright."

Fiddleford's leg was now going so fast that the man had to hold it to keep it still. The two men smiled at each other and said in unison. "let's do it."

They pulled out a toolbox and began working to get the tape measure open. When it finally popped, they looked down at the inner workings expectantly.

"Well, that's a little disappointing," Fiddleford stated.

"A little?" Stanford responded, "my sixth-grade science project was more complicated than this thing and it was a rush job. My dad was sick at the time and Sta…he needed help around the shop."

"It doesn't even look like it's safe to use. It just pulls you through time, the amount of friction it would cause could set a person's hair or clothes on fire," Fiddleford stated. "And look at it, as breakable as the parts are, it's not surprising that this thing broke while those kids were playing with it!The real wonder is that people aren't getting stranded all over time left and right."

"Maybe they are, and we just haven't been looking for them." Stanford looked at Fiddleford and added, "but what are we going to do, fix this thing so it works better and go make a complaint to the manufacturer in the future?"

The two looked at each other thoughtfully. Fiddleford looked down at it again, "It would be feasible enough, I reckon. It could hardly do much damage, considering it would be at a time when these things already exist."

* * *

Bill wanted to scream. This wasn't supposed to happen! It wasn't just that his scientist was getting distracted. If those idiots started messing with time, everything he'd worked so hard for could fall apart!

Suddenly, he sensed another time anomaly. The power he felt rising from it was all too familiar. His eye crinkled in a grin and he rubbed his hands together in excitement. He flew over to the location and grinned with his eye as he looked at the figure of Blendin Blandin, which lifted his goggles to reveal two glowing yellow eyes. "Hello handsome. I'll take it this means I'm going to come up with a plan."

"Yes, and I'd like to go through with it as quickly as possible. As soon as I get back, I'm going to be able to get the party started."

"It's really going down then."

"Oh yes but the less we talk about it, the better."

"Time travel can be so messy."

Future Bill nodded Blendin Blandin's head and said, "just as long as we can clean up this little mess, everything should be fine. I need you to get Glasses' mind erasing device."

"You know you can count on me," The floating triangle said to his older self, giving him a mock salute.

"More than anyone else in the whole multiverse."

The Bill of the present gave a wink to his future self, knowing the other wouldn't confuse it with a blink Then both chuckled before the yellow triangle vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this part is clearly not as detailed as the previous two chapters. This is where I had started running out of steam for the story.
> 
> The comments on the simplicity of the time machine but the fact that I don't have them describing how it works is a reference to Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and nonstop fun, where Dipper goes to stating that it’s easy to make and describing how to build it, only for the writing to be blacked out.
> 
> I was hoping to come up with a scene at some point where one of the Bills did something to anger the other, who couldn't do anything about it because it would hurt him in the long run due to being the same person at different points in time but it never happened.
> 
> Next will be a disjointed scene which I hadn't even figured out where to place yet and the description of what I had originally planned for the rest of the story. I’ll probably post it up later this week, due to the short length of both this chapter and that one.


End file.
